Household refrigerators have evolved considerably over the years since their introduction and are now rather commonplace domestic appliances. Apart from the great strides made in the preservation of foodstuffs or perishable comestibles, the design of a household refrigerator is impelled by many other functional attributes given the nature of the environment in which these appliances are used. Several such design considerations include maintenance of the refrigerator, and particularly within the refrigerated cavity thereof, and the adaptability of the refrigerator to the culinary lifestyles and vagaries thereof exhibited by the user of the refrigerator. More specifically, it is important that the user be able to arrange the interior space of a refrigerator to accommodate the range of items placed therein with due regard for size and shape of certain food articles or demands for controlled environments as may be required by various types of fresh food. Organizational versatility also augments the ability to clean the interior space of a refrigerator provided a full range of adjustability finds it way into the design. This permits the user either to remove components such as shelves or storage compartments to facilitate organization, or perhaps take advantage of other ranges of adjustability, in order to clean around or about the otherwise structural components.
Refrigerator design, and particularly that for domestic refrigerators, has long been concerned with the ability to provide the objectives briefly noted above. Removable shelves have been proposed as have removable or adjustable compartments. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,647,075 and 3,469,711 relate to adjustable storage shelves for association with a refrigerator door. The door is formed with a central cavity defined between outwardly projecting side walls. Standards or so-called stringer members are secured to the outer face of the outwardly projecting side walls and are themselves formed with a linear series of generally rectangular apertures to define fixturing locations vertically along the length of the refrigerator door. The cooperative shelf member has a generally L-shaped profile in cross section with side walls formed as return legs of the front face to give the shelf an overall conformity in the shape of a "U". The side walls or the free legs of that "U" include hook-like elements configured specifically for disposition within selected rectangular apertures in the stringer members. In this fashion the shelf may be placed at any convenient location along the door with the long leg of the "L" member inserted intermediate the outwardly projecting side walls of the door, with the hook-like elements engaging the selected apertures. When located at a convenient height or otherwise disposed in a convenient location for the user, food items or the like may be carried on the shelf and confined to that region by the front face and the door itself. The '711 patent discloses a conceptually identical approach, but one where the shelf is of a more complicated manufacturing design.
Similar adjustable compartments or shelving members have been proposed for use within the main fresh food cavity of a household refrigerator. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,680,941 discloses a food storage compartment for a refrigerator in which an assembly comprised of standards and brackets is adapted for locating a storage drawer. Vertical standards like those described with regard to the '075 patent are affixed to the rear wall of a refrigerator. A drawer is disposed within a generally rectilinear housing from which it may be withdrawn to provide access to its interior and whatever comestibles may be stored therein. The outer frame within which the drawer slides is supported on either side by a bracket having hook-like elements at the rear terminus thereof specifically configured for internal cooperation within the array of slots formed in the standard. Accordingly, the drawer may be moved about the interior of the refrigerator within the zone defined by the standards at the will of the user.
Somewhat more versatile are the adjustable storage compartments disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,241,334 and 3,339,994. In each instance a storage compartment is associated dependently with a conventional wire rack within the refrigerator, the type of racks historically used as shelving members to allow free flow of circulating air throughout the refrigerated cavity. Each of the '334 and '994 patents provide a plate which is supported upon the wire rack. The plate is formed with downwardly projecting flanges which are placed at opposed edges and dimensioned to project beneath the rack or wire shelf. The flanges include return legs or shoulders which form a guideway for an associated flange on a storage unit so that the storage unit, for example a drawer, may be positioned beneath the wire shelf for movement into and out of the refrigerator cavity. Positioning that moveable/removeable drawer is achieved simply by placement of the upper supporting panel at a convenient or desired location by the user.
The devices described in summary above undoubtedly work well for their intended applications, but suffer one or more drawbacks. Standards and brackets as a design for achieving adjustability are attended by certain structural problems. For example, as the cantilevered bracket elements are loaded a moment is created about the juncture of these two elements. Increasing the loading compounds associated problems at that juncture and, although structurally the assembly remains static, the resolution of forces tend to approach point-like concentration. Depending upon the design, and whether one is concerned with a cantilevered shelf versus a cantilevered drawer, there may be more or less tendency toward rattling as the refrigerator is opened or closed or as a consequence of vibration in the structure due to, e.g., compressors or the like. None of these structures is truly adequate to protect the integrity of the module and the items it supports when a refrigerator door is closed abruptly or slammed shut. Furthermore, none of the approaches heretofore proposed fully accommodates the requirements of the user in terms of cleaning the interior space of the refrigerator and particularly at or around the adjustable module(s). Individual wires, prongs, apertured or fenestrated channels are all locations where debris can collect and yet be difficult to remove without resorting to elaborate or painstaking efforts. Accordingly, it is apparent that the need yet exists to provide an improved storage module for adjustable disposition within the cavity of a refrigerator, whether the door or main cavity thereof, which may be positioned at the desires of a user to facilitate interior organization, which cooperates with the refrigerator structure under all manner and variety of loading conditions, and which also either facilitates the ability to clean the interior of the refrigerator or, at the least, does not hinder that objective.